Google Lens is now being made available to users of all Android phones though they need to have the Google Photos app installed on their devices. The feature was so far restricted to only the flagship Pixel handsets.
For those not in the knowing, Google Lens is, in reality, a visual search feature that will let users to search for more information about an object. Be it any historical structure, a business card or even a dog, the lens will display more information about the object in focus.
With historical places or other places of interest, the information shown will include a brief introduction to the place along with other stuff like opening and closing hours and other relevant stuff. Not that a Google search won’t reveal the same info, but with Lens, users will be spared from entering the specific search terms to let Google do the job.
Instead, users will just have to load the specific images from Google Photos. Lens can take up from there as it is intelligent enough to isolate the main object in the photo and then extract more info on it from the web. With visiting cards, users will be able to add the details shown to the Contacts lists, thus saving users from entering the details manually.
Rolling out today, Android users can try Google Lens to do things like create a contact from a business card or get more info about a famous landmark. To start, make sure you have the latest version of the Google Photos app for Android: https://t.co/KCChxQG6Qm
Coming soon to iOS pic.twitter.com/FmX1ipvN62— Google Photos (@googlephotos) March 5, 2018
The lens can also be paired up with Assistant for obtaining information on the move. For this, users will have to ask for details of any image that is captured via the camera. Lens will be all too happy to oblige though it’s just that the feature isn’t fool proof at all times.
However, Lens will be working with Assistant in only the flagships devices for now before it starts appearing on all Android phones. In other words, Google is rolling out Lens in phases, and it could be some time before it starts appearing on all Android devices eventually. The company also stated it would make it way to iOS devices as well but isn’t giving out more details on that just yet.
Also, Lens works well for the more well-known objects but is prone to falter with things that border rarity. Going by that parameter, the feature is expected to work most of the time but not every time. In fact, Lens can also be considered to be an adaptation of the ‘Search by image’ feature Google has already been offering for quite some time now. It could only have been adapted to work in a mobile environment in a seamless manner with least human intervention.
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In any case, it is nice to see Google innovating on what can be said to be an existing feature to work in a mobile device even though it isn’t anything ground breaking.
